"KHON-MA" IS AN ANCIENT GODDESS OF TIBET. SHE WAS THE "ANCIENT MOTHER "WHOSE NAME MEANS "LUCK" OR "FORTUNE". SHE IS A KIND OF "HECATE" FIGURE, A GHOSTLY QUEEN WHO RODE ON THE BACK OF A LARGE RAM THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT. SHE IS CLOTHED IN ROBES OF YELLOW AND CARRIES A GOLDEN NOOSE. BUDDHISTS SAY THAT IT IS SHE WHO RULES OVER ALL OF THE ELEMENTS. SHE MUST BE PROPITIATED IN COMPLICATED WAYS TO ENSURE PROTECTION OF THE HOUSEHOLD.

CERTAIN SUPERSTITIOUS PRACTICES RELATING TO "KHON MA" SUGGEST JUST HOW ANCIENT SHE REALLY IS. THE TIBETANS, WHO FEAR EARTH DEMONS, BELIEVE THAT SHE HAS DOMINION OVER ALL OF THE SPIRITS OF EARTH, AND TO GUARD AGAINST THEIR INFLUENCE, A RAM'S SKULL IS HUNG FROM THE DOORPOST OF A DWELLING AND FILLED WITH OFFERINGS SUCH AS A VARIETY OF SMALL PRECIOUS OBJECTS AS WELL AS SOME DRY FOOD, SUCH AS RICE, WHEAT, AND PULSE, AND FINALLY IMAGES OR PICTURES OF A MAN, A WOMAN, AND A HOUSE. THE OBJECT OF THESE FIGURES IS TO DECEIVE THE DEMONS SHOULD THEY STILL COME IN SPITE OF THIS OFFERING, AND TO MISLEAD THEM INTO THE BELIEF THAT THE PICTURES ARE THE RESIDENTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD SO THAT THE EVIL ONES WRECK HAVOC ON THESE BITS OF WOOD, THUS SAVING THE REAL HUMAN OCCUPANTS. WHEN ALL IS READY, A PRIEST PRAYS TO "OLD MOTHER KHON-MA "THAT SHE WOULD BE PLEASED TO ACCEPT THESE DAINTY OFFERINGS AND TO CLOSE THE DOORS OF THE EARTH SO THAT THE DEMONS ARE UNABLE TO COME FORTH.

CYMIDEI CYMEINFOLL (pronounced KEEM-ud-day KEEM-een-vol) is the Welsh Goddess of war. Along with her husband, Llasar Llaesgyfnewid, she lived beneath a lake in Ireland, until Matholwch, King of Ireland, tried to kill them. Cymidei and Llasar escaped to Wales, taking with them the Cauldron of Regeneration which they guarded. When a warrior was killed in battle, he was thrown into the cauldron, and would emerge alive but without the ability to speak. They gave the cauldron to Bendigeidfran, King of Wales, also known as Bran.

When Bran's sister Branwen was to be married to Matholwch, their half-brother Efnisien threw a fit and mutilated several of Mathowch's horses. In appeasement, Bran gave Matholwch the cauldron as a peace offering to take back to Ireland. Unfortunately, the marriage was not a happy one and Branwen sent word back to Bran that she was being mistreated. He and Efnisien invaded Ireland to get their sister back. The Irish were winning, because the cauldron could keep regenerating their dead warriors. Efnisien leapt into the cauldron and broke it, turning the tide for the Welsh but losing his life in the process.

Cymidei Cymeinfoll's name means "big belly of battle" in reference to the fact that she could give birth to a fully armed warrior every six weeks.